A/N: Yes. I have been in a writing slump. My main job right now involves typing. Would you want to do 10 hours of typing and then come back and type a fan fic? That's what I thought. That, combined with other stuff, is just eating the hours away! Guess I have to write another poem huh? Oh, I do not own Naruto. If you think I do, you are a spaz.

I would have been lying if I said it meant nothing.

But then, is it really nothing to simply know,

Is it really nothing to have presence?

If that is nothing, then I will be nothing.

Regrowth - Ch. 2

Dim light cast all around the broken shelter, sand and dust blowing through the cracks, shafts of light visible wherever they fell. This light was pale and soft, the half-filled moon bearing its witness on all that roamed beneath it. The polished metal of Itachi's necklace sparkled in the firelight just outside of Sakura's vision, casting phantom flames on her face. She wasn't sure how long she stared like that, though eventually she was aware that Kisame fell asleep. He slept like most shinobi, back to the wall and one hand on a weapon. As for herself, she rarely felt the need to sleep armed anymore, but her curiosity got the better of her and she watched his face as he dozed off unawares. In this odd lighting, she couldn't even detect the signature blue color of his skin, the rough gills and sharp jaw all that stood out aside. What exactly was he, really?

The signs of shark possession were vivid, his face wide, cheekbones angled severely and jaw heavyset. Despite the broad overall figure, he didn't seem to have a scrap of fat left on him, the flames flickering off well toned muscle. His eyes suddenly opened, slitted and staring intently. She averted her eyes hastily, not wanting to be caught staring, but he handled the scrutiny with good humor. "What? Never got a good look back in the old days?"

She decided to give back whatever she got. "Honestly, no, but I know you got a good hard look at me." A small smirk slid across her face, the gesture feeling so peculiar after spending so long with a dead look on her face.

He scoffed lightly, leaning further back against the wall. "Yeah that was some time ago, kid." For a long, choked moment, neither of them could say a word. Despite the fact that they were both the talkative type at times, for some reason minutes passed before he could say anything. "Your hair grew."

Her hands went subconsciously to the ends of her hair, now past the shoulder after two years of neglect. Even though she liked her old short style, she couldn't bring herself to care. "I guess I never paid much attention to it."

Another long, pregnant silence filled the cavern before he muttered quietly. "It looked better the other way."

She scoffed softly, nodding once. "Yeah. I liked it better that way too."

His eyes darted in her direction, scanning before questioning. "Yeah? So why did you have it so long way back? To keep flies off your ass?" Razor-sharp teeth gleamed in the light, though perhaps they only seemed sharp. Were they really?

"No, stupid girl stuff. I liked Sasuke back then and I grew it out because I thought he'd like it. One day though, it got cut off in battle and it was like that ever since. Why bother growing it out again for someone that doesn't even care? He tried to kill me, but I ended up killing him instead."

"Yeah, I saw a good chunk of your fight with him. I couldn't believe a little thing like you packed that much of a punch, even after being with us and taking up the training. I guess he had it in for him, huh? You showed him what pain was really like, didn't you?"

Her eyes were downcast and sad. "No, I don't take glory in that battle. I defended myself, I defended what was left of Konoha. There is no honor in making others feel your pain. That is where Pein's initial ideals were horrifically skewed. He thought that by making others feel the pain he felt, it would make them want to repent, or something like that. I don't think he realized how resilient people can be, even after that much pain. He wouldn't have made it if he had tried it. As it is, maybe he can be content with the way things are. I haven't heard from him."

Kisame glanced down at the ring still on his finger. "He's out there somewhere. I still have this old ring in case I want to contact him, but I have no reason to."

"Why don't you just get rid of it then? You don't need it."

He smirked and shrugged in an exaggerated manner. "Well alright, why don't you get rid of your Konoha headband? You don't need it."

"That's...!" She paused, her fingers brushing over the cold metal of her headband, the Konoha insignia not even scratched out, missing though she was. "I guess I see what you mean."

"Well yeah, it's why even those missing nin never give up their headbands, even if they are scratched out. This ring, just like my own headband, it's all part of who you are, you know? Giving that up is like giving up Samehada, you won't see me doing it while I still draw breath!"

"We all came pretty close, didn't we? To dying, I mean. I wasn't even sure you were alive, I lost all contact with everyone. I tried communicating through this ring but nothing got through."

"No, I couldn't either for quite some time. It was for our protection, you see, designed by Pein himself. All of the ring holders could easily find him, and that included Madara until he met his own demise. Once he was dead, the jutsu was gone, but I guess you never knew and thought all contact was done for good, huh? I have no idea if anyone else even made it through. If Madara hadn't found out about you like he did, maybe things would have gone a bit smoother."

Her eyes widened at that. "He found out about me before the battle? How? When? What... Why did he let it all happen?"

"Deidara figured it out, I don't know that for certain but I'd bet everything I had on that! He was always a little suspicious of you, and that guy likes to complain, especially if he's been deceived. We never knew it at the time and neither did you, but Madara found out some time before Deidara killed himself off and set a tracker on you. It's how he was able to track Itachi in the last few days, how he was able to find Sasuke and capture him for his own purposes. However... after that last night in the woods, he was never able to find you again."

Her brows furrowed slightly. "If he set the tracker on me without my ever knowing, how did he manage to lose me?"

For the first time, Kisame seemed at a loss. No, not at a loss, more like... he really didn't want to say exactly how it happened, but under her stare he finally spilled it. "Well, funny thing is... he set the tracker on your uh... on your bra. And... well, for some reason, you ditched it far from the campsite that evening. Madara was really pissy later on, raving about how on earth you could have possibly figured it out and done nothing, but uh... you didn't know... did you?"

She tried to keep her composure as best as she could. "Ah... no, I guess it must have fallen out of my pack."

He chuckled and grinned wide. "Everyone thought you figured it out and ditched the thing, but I knew better than that. Of course, I keep my big mouth shut, unlike some pyro I know." With a grimace, he continued. "That thing wasn't all that left you for good that day." He added a wink for good measure.

Her face reddened noticeably, her arms clutching her legs closer to herself. "W-what's that supposed to mean?"

He rolled his eyes with exaggeration, sighing loudly. "Oh come on, we're both adults here, right? I'm pretty darn sure I know what happened that night so don't act dumb." His form shifted uncomfortably against the wall and he glanced down at the floor. "I know he had kinda mixed thoughts about you sometimes, he told me about it, you know? We weren't just partners, he trusted me. You can trust me too."

Her own eyes met the floor, her tone quiet as she admitted to what had happened. "It's exactly how you thought it was. I don't know why it happened, it just did."

"Is that so..." His gaze grew reflective for a moment. "What did you do to him, besides the obvious? When he left that day he seemed so... resolute, and yet... It wasn't like other missions where he had already decided the outcome, that time he seemed completely at peace with himself. What exactly happened back then?"

She smiled mysteriously and clasped the necklace a little harder. "I don't know. Maybe he finally found the answers he needed."

With a sharp nod, he finally relaxed. "That's good to hear. I knew there had been quite a few things troubling him. It's funny, though, that that kid found the answers long before an old guy like me, who's been searching for answers so much longer."

Her eyes flickered to him and back to the ground, then to him again, pondering what he said. "And what kind of answers are you looking for... Kisame?"

"Just life, you know. Why we're here, what the hell we're doing, why I was born this way, you know. The usual stuff. I don't think too much about the higher powers or whatever the hell Itachi liked to go on about. Something about the will of fire being passed down the generations, making them stronger. Not so good when the kid you pass it down to goes bat-shit crazy."

"It's good enough when you pass it on to someone who will do some good. My teacher passed down everything she knew on to me, and I even managed to improve on a few things she had been working on. After she died, I finished whatever new techniques she left behind. The will of fire works both ways."

"Guess so." His arms crossed behind his head, his form relaxing further against the rough stone wall. "We never believed stuff like that. In the mist, I mean. If you got killed, then you obviously deserved the death you got. If you stole something and got away with it, you deserved what you took. If you killed someone, you got away with that too. As long as you were strong enough to protect yourself, you were good enough to them."

She scoffed. "That's barbaric."

He merely shrugged. "It's all we knew. The kids hardly go outside the mist, they're taught from the start how things are, and by the time they grow up, they really believe it. Tell you what, though, there aren't a whole lot of people out there that are my age, that's for sure. Any survivors are subject to be paired with someone if they hadn't found a suitable mate by a certain age. They kept the strong bloodlines strong, and set the weaklings at the front lines. Barbaric, maybe, but... very efficient."

"They would seriously go as far as to pair people off? That's messed up... If you can't even choose..."

"Well, everyone had their chance, but if you weren't paired off at a certain age, then it became a matter of choosing good blood."

"So... Were you paired off?"

"I guess you could say that, although I never met her, what with getting thrown out of the mist and joining Akatsuki and all that mess. You gotta do an awful lot of shit to get exiled from the mist, that's for sure. Well, anyway, I didn't meet her, all I know is that she was from a different clan, similar to my own except that instead of having shark characteristics, her clan had something strange... they had very smooth skin and sharp tails, and they used some sort of pulse or shock to stun enemies. It's kinda like those eels you get in the ocean, except much much worse, you could die instantly if their technique struck."

"How is that possible?" Somehow she just couldn't comprehend the abilities he mentioned. "How is it that the mist ninjas can have such... unusual traits? It seems almost impossible to have animalistic qualities. I'm a medical nin, and yet I just can't see the logic..."

"Guess it's like asking why many cloud ninjas have dark skin, or where the Sharingan or Byakugan came from. Hell, that Rin'negan was the creepiest of all... You think I'm creepy, you just try and look in those eyes. My skin might be offsetting, but to look at just those eyes..." He shuddered visibly.

"That guy... Zetsu... he was just as strange. Although, I know how he came about, it was a demonic entity that somehow managed to completely fuse with his body. It's the worst case of possession I had ever witnessed. Compared to his, yours is pretty benign."

"No kidding, he-" He stopped abruptly. "Huh, so you figured it out? Well sure, the mist aren't the only ones to do that. Some cloud ninjas will fuse with bird demons, the rock ninjas are pretty elusive, but I've seen one that looked half tiger. I've seen some of your leaf ninjas fusing with wolves, or at least partially having wolf-like abilities. There's a rumor of the giant sand worm of Suna, that it was originally a ninja a hundred years ago or even more, and it continues to live out a long life under the sand, eating lone wanderers."

Her rosy brow rose suspiciously. "Oh come on... That's just a legend."

"I'm sure not taking any chances, that's why I've been masking my chakra. There's a damn good reason I got to be as old as I am, and it's because I'm not a moron. Although... Kakuzu really wasn't a moron either but look what happened to him. He was too confident of his abilities, he didn't realize that he still had much to improve on. Hidan? Yeah he was a moron, but it took a genius to incapacitate him. Guess it all depends on who you're up against, but I don't take on shit I can't handle. Sure, someone out there could kill me, maybe easily, but I have yet to take that person on."

"Probably a good thing they never sent me to take you out, then."

A sly grin crept across his face. "Oh really? Why might that be? You think you'd take me out that easy? You're not a good match to take me out, you know."

She shook her head at that. "On the contrary, I'd be the one who could take you out the most easily. It's just a matter of preparation and fully understanding the enemy."

"Is that so?" His look grew curious. "And suppose you had to? How would you do that?"

She shifted uncomfortably before reaching into her pack. "I had already planned for such a thing, though I am so glad it never had to come to that. Although it pained me to think of having to fight the people I had become friends with, I knew it was a possibility that I would need to do it to keep my cover and eventually retain the safety of the world." She pulled out a small vial of some cloudy substance, holding the white mixture for him to see. "This would kill you, Kisame, and it would kill you quickly. It's not a poison, therefore there will never be an antidote, and by the time anyone realized what it was, you would have been dead already for several hours. All it is is an injection of minerals. You are tolerant of primarily salt water, and these minerals work completely against that tolerance, unsettling your entire body system."

He took the vial gingerly, a morbid interest taking over as he looked at the seemingly harmless little thing closely. "This could kill me? Shit... you could inject that small amount in and I'd not even notice with my tough skin. I gotta admit... it's smart."

"I made something similar for Zetsu, although in his case it works against his tolerance for only fresh water. I planned quite thoroughly just in case I needed to fight all of you."

"Really... Even the leader?"

"Once I thought about his abilities long enough, it all made sense. I perfected a technique that can cause a complete chakra disturbance for as long as five seconds, which as you know is a long time in battle. He relies entirely on chakra being distributed to his bodies to a very sophisticated degree, causing a significant disturbance in the messages being relayed would cause complete confusion, allowing me to deal a fatal blow."

"Geez... Have I ever told you how much you creep me out?"

Then she laughed, the first real laugh he had heard in far too long. "I wouldn't be a very good kunoichi if I couldn't unsettle the hearts of men, now could I?"

He joined with a hearty laugh, nodding at the truth of the statement. "You got that right. I swear, I never had a problem with fighting the male shinobi, it was kunoichi that seemed to get the better of me!"

"That's why kunoichi are so important to the ninja system." She paused, a lengthy sigh following. "What the hell do we do now, Kisame? What do we do now that everything is over? What's left for us after all this? All we've ever known is this stupid war, what are we supposed to do now that the war is over with?"

His own look sobered, and he looked down at the ground reflectively. "I guess that's the whole point. Now that it's over, we can choose what we want to do. That's what we were supposed to accomplish, anyway, but... You know, I never thought about what I would do, I figured I'd die long before the war was over. Now here I am, achieving the rare middle-age and able to seal my sword away in a scroll for weeks at a time without having to use it. Hell, I don't know what to do, but I think that first of all, I'd love to get out of this stupid desert. It's driving me nuts."

"How long have you been out here, Kisame?" Only then did she notice that he was wearing rough, worn clothing, in tans and browns, suited to the desert lands. He had tied up his unruly hair from his eyes, a long cloth protecting the back of his neck and a ragged cloak hanging from his neck. Some of his clothing seemed to be in the Suna style, and she briefly wondered what- or who- he had obtained them from.

"I left not long after the battle. I wandered for maybe... hell, I don't know. I've been out here before, though. There were missions that brought me here now and then. How about you? You been in this desert before?"

"No... only one time. I'm not familiar with the desert, only in theory. I know to keep hydrated and to stay inside during the night and during storms, but actually doing it... it's different."

"You still have your cloak?" At her nod, he rummaged in his own pack. "Good, you'll wanna use that thing, for some reason it's good in all of this crazy weather, especially if you don't already have something to cover your back. Here." He tossed a large cactus fruit her way, caught easily.

"Thanks. Anything else I should know about this place?" She took a deep bite of the fruit, the juicy sweetness stinging her mouth until she became accustomed to it. No matter how much she knew medically, she never could figure out why the mouth went crazy when assaulted with something so full of taste.

"Keep your head covered, especially your neck. Try not to expose a lot of skin, it may get really hot with all the clothes, but getting sunburned is much worse."

"Right, it can damage your ability to sweat, plus other nasty things. Well... I don't really have much, but let me see what I can pull together." She pulled a few loose articles from her pack, an old shirt, some sweaters and enough bandages to cover both of them. The old shirt went first, the thing torn long ago. A few rips later, she had it tied to cover her head and a few bandages completed the headdress. Another old, torn cloak was the next victim, turning into something to cover her back. It would do. "And what about the nights? I don't know about you, but I'm freezing!"

"Just use your Akatsuki cloak, that should help. This fire will probably die out soon, so get comfortable while you can."

Cloth rustled as she pulled out her old Akatsuki cloak, the only other thing she possessed besides Itachi's necklace and Orochimaru's ring that reminded her of those old days. Even though so many bad things had happened, she had actually enjoyed her time with them. It felt so good to be back in this familiar cloak, this thing that she knew the weight of like her own skin and her fighting uniform. However, this bitter cold cut to the core, the freezing temperature difficult for her to bear. She was from fire country, a climate warm at all times, even in winter. She was not conditioned for this. "I can't get warm. I'm not used to this cold yet..."

"I forgot you were from a warm climate..." He paused, and then with an exasperated sigh, he beckoned her closer. "Come on. get over here."

Temporarily stunned, her eyes blinked rapidly. "Huh?"

He motioned more insistently. "I said come on! Get over here." His arms crossed over his chest impatiently until she edged next to him, starting suddenly as he flicked his cloak over both of them. "Hey, don't look so freaked out!"

"Sorry, you just startled me." She wasn't scared of him. In the Akatsuki, they had become friends, though still somewhat wary of each other due to their abilities. Back then, it wasn't certain whether or not she would someday have to fight him, and they never grew too close. However, now that things were certain and she knew they wouldn't have to fight, she relaxed. Without further invitation, she rested her back against his chest, much to his own surprise. Well, it only made sense, the best way to share heat was direct contact. When he finally settled back against the wall hesitantly, she allowed herself to sleep. Outside, the cold wind provided a constant weather report, even as she grew too apathetic to care.

A/N: Finally, chapter 2 is done with. Hope you all don't mind... but again, a typing job. Not fun! Please let me know what you think of this story so far. All commentary is appreciated.